CHAPTER 48: CHAPTER 48 PINE NUTS INTIMACY MEETS THE STANDARD! (THIRD UPDATE)

The urge to make money didn’t last long.

After all, the decision made a few days ago to cultivate a maximum of one Pet Beast each week shouldn’t change so quickly—it wasn’t a good habit.

And besides, it was just for researching Wolf Tobacco. Su Ping thought there was no need to use such high-quality equipment!

What was wrong with his own medicine stove? It couldn’t isolate smells, and without a gas mask, one could easily be overcome by the fumes. It lacked an automatic stirring feature, requiring manual grinding with a pestle. It didn’t have a decomposition function and could only process materials into liquids or powders. It just... Forget it, even Su Ping himself was having a hard time continuing this list.

However, as long as his determination didn’t falter, there were always more solutions than difficulties.

He had no reason to stop researching Wolf Tobacco just like that. Using basic experimental facilities was also an option.

After all, although he didn’t have high-quality equipment, he had people!

So, after bringing back the slightly weakened Little Forest Wolf, Old Sha, and another Forest Wolf from the banks of the Lingxi River behind the forest, Su Ping found Li Shu, who was training Songzi.

After all, it wasn’t a technically difficult operation. He just needed to control the temperature, wear a gas mask, and continuously work the medicine stove. At most, he just needed to add some water in the middle and heat this big bundle of Wolf Tobacco until it completely condensed into liquid. That was all there was to it.

There was no technical difficulty.

But without a doubt, this was a necessary step on the path of a Breeder.

Yes. All these words were what Su Ping said to Li Shu.

Then, meeting Su Ping’s trusting gaze, Li Shu fastened his gas mask and nodded with resolve.

It wasn’t easy! Having been at Su Ping’s place for a week now, he could finally participate in work relevant to a Breeder’s job. Although Li Shu could see that Wolf Tobacco wasn’t commonly found in the city, it was widespread in the uninhabited areas outside it. These herbs were clearly brought back by Su Ping deliberately to train him. He absolutely couldn’t betray his adoptive father’s trust!

"Go for it!"

After teaching Li Shu how to use the heating medicine stove, Su Ping called Old Sha, who wore a special wolf-dog gas mask, to watch for any issues. Only then did he fully relax.

Su Ping then went to Songzi.

Even though its master was gone, Songzi, the Luozisong, knew that Su Ping, who stood before it, was its master’s best friend. It was also thanks to this very person that it had been able to grow so robustly during this time. Its Realm had even broken through to ordinary Third Rank.

Plant-type Pet Beasts generally lacked strong mobility but offered many functional uses.

If it weren’t for the fact that Songzi, the Luozisong, was difficult to cultivate and required a large area, making it hard to grow in large numbers, Su Ping would have considered choosing it as his second Pet Beast.

However, while he couldn’t choose it, this couldn’t hide his fondness for this type of Pet Beast.

The small Songzi swayed gently. Though it had no face, the slight trembling of its trunk and branches clearly signified an interesting soul nestled within.

During this past week, Su Ping had spared no effort in cultivating this little Songzi. Furthermore, before he returned to the Heart of Woods, Su Ping, while spending time with Li Shu, had interacted with this little guy on multiple occasions.

However, since it was not a wolf-dog type Pet Beast, even with guidance from Old Sha, the Wolf King, and after such a long time, there wasn’t even a hint that the intimacy level had been reached.

This made Su Ping a bit helpless.

Now, he was well-acquainted with the nature of Forest Wolves. After his Forest Wolf Catalog reached LV2, and with Old Sha’s guidance, even the Forest Wolves brought to him for Cultivation reached the required intimacy level in two or three days at most, some even in a single day.

However, this little Songzi had truly taken a long time.

From this, Su Ping could infer, albeit with some difficulty, that getting wild Pet Beasts to reach the required intimacy level in the future—and thus light up new entries in the Myriad Spirit Beast Atlas—would be considerably more challenging.

But today, Su Ping came with a confident heart.

Because today, Su Ping had something extra in his hands.

It flickered with wisps of refreshing fragrance, but in reality, it had no physical form.

This thing, if called a treasure, indeed was one, but if not, it wouldn’t be of much use to other Pet Beasts or human Beast Tamers.

The Life Ancient Tree was Qin Xiaoxue’s second Pet Beast.

However, that day, when Qin Xiaoxue saw Xiao Qing, who was also a Mutated Pet Beast, she answered Su Ping’s questions and satisfied his curiosity. This answered his question about the nature of the mutation of Qin Xiaoxue’s Life Ancient Tree and the direction it had taken.

Death!

Right, although Su Ping had previously realized that Qin Xiaoxue’s Mutated Pet Beast was definitely not mediocre, he had not imagined that the Life Ancient Tree was a Mutated Pet Beast with both Life and Death Attributes coexisting.

The challenge of cultivating such Mutated Pet Beasts with completely opposite Attributes was unimaginable. It was vastly more complex than the Forest Wolf by countless degrees.

Qin Xiaoxue, however, was not stingy and had shared some of her Cultivation insights with him.

The Life Ancient Tree could not be handled carelessly; its Life and Death Attributes always needed to be balanced. However, since the Life Ancient Tree was a mutation, its essential Attribute was still predominantly Life, so its Death Attribute was more suppressed.

Therefore, to maintain this balance, Qin Xiaoxue’s Life Ancient Tree needed to expel some Life Energy periodically to foster some Death Energy. Only under these circumstances could the Attribute balance of the Mutated Life Ancient Tree be prevented from collapsing.

Yes, the cluster of Energy Su Ping held was precisely the Life Force expelled by the Life Ancient Tree.

This Energy normally had no significant effect beyond healing injuries, but for Plant-type creatures, it was an excellent thing. It could not only expedite the growth of Plant-type Pet Beasts but could also enhance their potential and intelligence.

After all, the Life Ancient Tree remained a powerful Pet Beast with the Racial Potential of the Monarch Level! If this Energy didn’t dissipate over time, Su Ping would indeed be reluctant to use it on little Songzi. And now, this was the trump card Su Ping was using to coax this little Songzi aboard his ’pirate ship’!

As expected, when Su Ping took out this pale green Energy, he could vividly feel little Songzi’s excitement, its branches waving even more swiftly.

Su Ping couldn’t help but roll his eyes at this little fellow. All Pet Beasts behaved the same way, not showing any interest unless they saw advantages to be gained.

The Life Energy slowly merged into little Songzi’s body.

A faint green glow emanated from its body, slowly blooming. Then, as Songzi trembled, a fruit appeared on its branches.

Next, the fruit shot out like a cannonball and burst open in the air!

This surge of Life Energy had actually helped the little fellow comprehend its most powerful combat Skill: Pine Cone Bomb.

Although its power was negligible for now, there was great potential for future development.

And not surprisingly, almost immediately after this anomaly vanished, the Myriad Spirit Beast Atlas in Su Ping’s mind opened slowly.

A brand-new page, one he had never seen before, appeared before Su Ping’s eyes!

The intimacy level of Songzi, the Luozisong, had been reached!